NAEB President's Memo (December 1964)

1346 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.

Washington 6, D. C.

Phone North 7-6000

Vol.III No. 3

December, 1964

COPYRIGHT REVISION REPORT

I have promised to keep you up to date with developments in the copyright revision
situation. Here are notes on current happenings.

- The Ad Hoc Committee has a task force working on plans to do a national sampling
to determine (1) the current practices in regard to the use by educational people of
copyrighted materials and (2) opinion of members of educational organizations
regarding what they consider “fair use” of such materials. Sampling instruments
will be pre-tested in representative situations before launching the general research
effort, scheduled for March.

- The Ad Hoc Committee plans to send a delegation to visit Commissioner Keppel,
USOE, to urge that he take an active role in the copyright deliberations. It is also
likely that a delegation will pay a second call upon the Register of Copyrights at an
early date.

- Several Federal agencies have been asked by the Register to express their views
on the proposed revisions of the copyright law. The Department of Defense (which
makes extensive use of audio-visual materials and television in its training centers),
the FCC, and HEW are all preparing statements. These are expected to reinforce the
educational position.

- Both the Authors League and the Book Publishers Council are reported to be
drafting proposals for copyright clearing houses for educational users. The Committee
has made no commitment re such procedures except to indicate that it would examine
such proposals when and if they are submitted.

TITLE XI OF NDE A

The Washington Report of August 23, 19 64, indicated that the new NDEA bill contains
some changes of interest to educational broadcasters. In particular. Title XI provides
for institutes in eight areas, including those for media specialist s..

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There is authorized $32,750,000 for fiscal 1965 for universities and colleges to
conduct short-term or regular semester institutes for advanced -Stud y by teachers or
supervisors of teachers in several subject areas (English, reading, history, geography,
disadvantaged youth), library personnel, and individuals “who are engaged as, or are
preparing to engage as educational media specialists.” Institutes in all eight areas
are to include “study in the use of new materials.”

Individuals attending such institutes are eligible to receive $75.00 per week and
those with one or more dependents will receive $15.00 per week extra for each
dependent.

Eligibility

It is clear from conversations with legal counsel at HE W that the intent of the
Senate Committee, which added the provision on media specialis ts , was to provide
a means of developing or improving competences in the educational media field for
individuals already involved in educational media work as a means of up-grading
the quality of instruction in the elementary and secondary schools. There is some
question, therefore, about the eligibility of staff members of educational broadcasting
stations, closed-circuit systems, and production centers - even though a substantial
part of their work concerns programs which are used in the schools. Legal counsel
agreed that if the individual was on the staff of a school/or college stations serving
schools,this would help and he admitted that these interpretations were matters of
degree. The decisions about who is accepted at the particular institutes, of course,
will be made by the individual institutional directors.

In any case, the USOE has decided that for the first year participation will be limited
to individuals employed directly and full-time by schools, school systems, or state
departments of education who are already exercising responsibility for media
programs. The need for institutes to serve individuals “preparing to engage” as
educational media specialists and institutes for college-level teachers will be
studied later.

Benefit.to Educational Broadcasting

Clearly these institutes are designed primarily for teachers, supervising teachers, or
those individuals in school systems who have been given responsibility for adminis¬
tering audio-visual programs; however, .educational broadcasting still stands to
benefit from teacher personnel who will gain training in classroom utilization of
radio and TV, knowledge of programming and production, on-camera and microphone
experience, and increased acquaintance with new materials to support classroom
work.

Many of our college and university members will contract to conduct such institutes
and there wiil certainly be an opportunity for some station staff members to attend
such institutes as a means of furthering their capability in handling a particular
function, medium or clientele or as a way to broaden their competences in the whole
field.

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Schedule

Very shortly the USOE will m ail a manual and set of guidelines to all institutions
who have indicated an interest in holding a Title XI institute. (The president of
every college and university has already been sent a letter explaining Title XI and
enclosing cards for the types of institutes. He is to return a card for each type of
institute his institution wishes to sponsor.) Proposals will be due by December 31.
Evaluation will be made in January with announcement to be made in early February.

Action

If you are attached to an institution of higher learning you may wish to check with
your president to see what, if anything, is being planned re Title XI. Your department
may wish to offer an institute or join with another department within your institution
in a joint sponsorship. Moreover, if the institutes planned by your institution are
in subject matter areas, you should get involved from the standpoint of assisting in
their study of new materials.

If individuals on your staff or teachers with whom you are working are interested in
attending an institute this summer or the next academic year, they should watch for
the announcement in February of the list of institutions which will be offering
institutes for media specialists.

Inquiries about the media institutes programs of Title XI should be addressed to:

Dr. Donald Bigelow

College & University Assistance Division
U. S. Office of Education
Washington, D. C. 20201

Scanned from the National Association of Educational Broadcasters Records
at the Wisconsin Historical Society as part of
"Unlocking the Airwaves: Revitalizing an Early Public and Educational Radio Collection."

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